Free Fall
by PyrexQueen
Summary: Gabriella O'Riley was imprisoned for a crime she didn't commit. Sent to the ground with the other 100 she'll have to come to terms with the hand she was dealt while also learning how to live again.
1. Prologue

**AN:** Hey all! I decided to put this as the prologue instead because I felt it made more sense to the story and that way you have a bit more of an idea what is going on.

To all of you who are new to the story: Welcome! Constructive criticisms is wanted and please, let me know if you find any spelling errors. I don't have a beta and while I try my best, I sometimes miss things.

Enjoy!

* * *

Abigail Griffin stared at the brown-haired girl on her medical bed. Her one fawn skin was pale and clammy. Her breaths came in shallow pants and with each inhale you could hear the rattle trapped deep in her lungs.

She frowned at Markus Kane, her fellow council member. "It isn't right." She repeated.

"Nothing about this whole situation is right." He snapped back, irritation flaring in his eyes.

Perhaps actually seeing the girl had managed to hit his conscious in a way that reading it on paper hadn't been able to do, Abby mussed.

"Still. This goes against everything I do. We _have_ the medicine to save her."

"And then what? We save her and she goes public with what she knows? It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together Abby. If she goes around telling people that the man who raped that woman is Gerald Kingston and we protected him…" He trailed off for a moment as if imagining the rebellion they would have on their hands.

"Even if they didn't put together the fact that he is our best life support technician, we still Floated another man for his crime, paid off the victim and her family to keep quiet, and have let him go on his way with no restrictions."

They both startled when the girl gasped in her sleep. Abby was already in motion. She checked her vital signs. Her heart rate had picked up a bit, probably from the pain. She inched the pain suppressant up on the girls IV drip.

"What about that boy, Sebastian Young? He's been here every day, trying to see her." She asked, avoiding his eyes as she pretended to continue checking on her patient.

"Do you think he knows?" Kane shot back.

Abby looked at the sick girl, Gabriella O'Riley. Her brows were furrowed in pain that even her forced sleep could not erase. She swallowed and prayed to a higher power she didn't believe in to save her soul for the decision she was about to make.

"I don't know." She answered, voice soft. "But I've read the reports, same as you. Their parents were best friends and they've been together since birth. After they started dating you couldn't find one without the other." She swallowed hard, eyes not leaving Gabriella's face. "If we're willing to let her die for what she knows, then we can't let him-" Her words stumbled and at the last minute she changed what she had be going to say. "We can't leave any loose ends behind."

"And how to you suggest we go about doing that?" Kane drawled.

Abby spent another moment staring at the girl on her medical bed.

She turned to Kane. "The medicine."

Confusion descended upon Kane's face before comprehension replace it. "I see." He nodded.

Abby took a deep breath to steel herself. "Have your men waiting for my signal. I'll talk to the boy and we'll catch him in the act."

Abigail Griffin's eyes steadily refused to look at the girl again.


	2. Chapter One

**AN:** This story has kind of became my baby. It will feature a lot of original characters, so if that's not your thing, well. *Shrugs*. There will be romance, but not for quite some time. And for the record, it will be OC/OC romance. Also, the main love interested wont be introduced for some time. In case no one guessed he's a grounder. This story is mostly for me to work on developing my characters because when I write I have a tendency to just write romance with no rhyme or reason as to why two people got together. I kind of just mush them into a situation and go "now kiss" while I shove their heads together.

So, yeah. *rubs head awkwardly*

Anyways, hope you all enjoy my story. I know I've enjoyed working on it so I think that shines through.

Ta-ta!

* * *

"Wake up, Gale."

Sebastian. My sweet, sweet Sebastian.

"Unnngg." I grumbled, snuggling deeper under my blankets.

"You have to wake up!"

He sounded so urgent, but I didn't want to wake up. He was always gone when I woke up.

"WAKE UP!"

I snapped up in my bed, chest heaving while my heart tried to escape from my ribs. The sight that greeted my eyes was the same sight I had seen for the last year and half. Four walls, a small window, a toilet, and a door. Better known as my prison cell in solitary confinement. For the last year and half, the only company I'd had was me, myself, and I. Even when they fed me. A small slot at the bottom of my door would open and my meal would be slid in.

I didn't know what had woken me in such a panic, but it wasn't long before I heard muffled sounds outside my cell.

My brows furrowed and I frowned. The cell door was extremely thick. It would take a lot of noise for anything to carry through it.

Were the other delinquents rioting?

Amusement bubbled in my chest at the thought of the council members having to deal that type of fallout.

But no.

Majority of the people stuck in the Sky Box awaiting their review on their eighteenth birthday were just that. Delinquents. Delinquents who did something stupid, yes, but most would come out of this situation with a slap on the wrist before being reintroduced into the population.

I yanked my too thin, scratchy blanket off and slunk over to the door, pressing my ear to the crack where the wall and door meet. It still wasn't much clearer, but I could tell there was a lot of screaming going on.

Were they killing us?

I pulled back from the door and stared at it like it might answer my question.

I stepped back, one step and then two, and then again and again until my body smacked into the wall behind me. I swallowed against the lump in my throat.

My review was up in two weeks. I knew for a fact that it was just a farce. Every council member knew they would have to float me when my file took its turn landing on their desk. I knew a secret that they didn't want to get out. My father been unjustly floated for a crime he didn't commit.

And then my Sebastian-

They floated him too.

I had no one left. Mom died when I was little. Way too young to have anything but the vaguest memory of a tinkling laugh and long black hair.

There was Sebastian's parents, but, well, they blamed me for his death.

Not that I could blame them. I blamed myself as well. But not as much as I blamed those no good, conniving, upper-class protecting councilors.

But I-

I had thought I was ready.

Ready to die. To join the people I loved.

But now that it was here; staring me in the face. I realized that was nowhere near the case.

I glanced around, heart beating double time. There were no weapons. I had search the room thoroughly my first week here.

I contemplated for a moment of shoving myself into the tiny space between the wall and toilet but ultimately discarded the idea. I wasn't a coward.

I would stand and face my fate head on, no matter how scared I was.

* * *

When the door opened I was ready. Only a few minutes had passed yet it had felt like hours. There were two guards. Already, they had their tasers out but I didn't let it distract me. Standing flush against the wall, next to the entrance, they didn't see me right away. I tried not to move, barely breathing least they see me out of their peripheral.

The first guard stepped further into the room.

I had rolled up my thin mattress and shoved it into the corner between the toilet and wall, arranged my blanket over it to make it look somewhat like a person, and as a better incentive to believe it, had my shoes slightly peeking out from underneath.

I hoped that the fact that my shoes were there would make them more willing to believe it was me. I also hoped like hell they wouldn't think too much about my clearly missing mattress.

"Prisoner 036, get up and face the wall!" Guard number one barked.

When my pretend form didn't move he took a few steps closer, turning his taser on.

"Prisoner! Get up and face the wall!" He repeated, taser sparking.

Guard number two had followed his buddy into the room but had stopped moving before I wanted him to. He looked weary. His turned heard clearly taking in my empty bed.

"I don-"

I slammed my body into his. Caught off guard, he stumbled further into the room and almost lost his footing. I snatched his taser out of his hand in the confusion, then pushed off of him and flung myself out the door. Using all my body weight I pulled the half open cell door shut and smacked the lock button just milliseconds before I felt it shudder.

I pulled away, glancing around myself.

Pandemonium surrounded me. I couldn't help but stop and stare at the sheer incredulity of it. They must have gathered all the guards from every station for this. Some kids were fighting while other went willingly with terror filled faces.

It was happening on every. Single. Level.

I swallowed, body shaking. It was one thing to hypothesis that they were rounding us up for a mass culling in the middle of the night. It was another thing to see it happening right before my eyes.

I shook my head trying to shake off the fear.

None of the other guards had noticed me yet, busy with their own charges. I was on the upper level, where they kept those in solitary confinement so there was a lot of fighting going on.

There wasn't anywhere to run to. But I had to try.

My sock-clad feet slapped against the cold metal floor as I dodged around four guards trying to pin down a strong prisoner. I vaguely recognized him as someone from my station who had opted out of finishing school to work under the ship with his family. They weren't having much luck though. There was a major difference in purposely training your muscles versus having muscles because you needed them to survive.

I passed them quickly enough. My destination was the stairs. If I could get down to the bottom level and get out of the Sky Box I could let people know what was happening.

These were people's kids and I didn't doubt for one second that they didn't know any of this was going on.

Wake up and inform enough people and the councilors would have to stop or they would have a mutiny on their hands.

I made it down two out of eight flights of stairs without notice but when I hit level six I ran smack dab into a guard with her prisoner.

We both froze for a moment in shock. Her eyes widened, mouth opening and I panicked, switching on the taser. I shoved it into the side of her ribs where I knew there was less protection from her gear. She jerked and went down.

I barely spared a glance at the kid still cuffed standing beside her. She wouldn't stay down for long, I knew, so my cover was blown. I had to get down faster.

I flew down the stairs, using the railing to help keep my momentum from throwing me over the edge when I turned at each landing.

A cry was taken up and then there were guards all around, trying to grab me. I dodged those I could and tased the ones who got too close.

When I got to the last level there was a group of guards waiting for me. I barely paused, using my momentum to fling myself past them and right over the railing. I hit the ground with a roll, trying not to break my legs. Not that it would matter, in the end, but I _had_ to warn people what was happening.

I sprung to my feet on the bottom floor. The area opened into a spacious room that clearly doubled as a mess hall.

I faltered, glancing around wildly. There were a bunch of kids standing around waiting while their guards tried to catch me but that wasn't what I was looking for.

 _Where's the exit!_ I hadn't been out of my damn cell since they put me in it and I couldn't remember which way I had come in. I had been out of it when I had been tossed in here; delirious with a fever and grief.

"Where's the exit?!" I screamed out, hoping one, just one, of the kids would answer.

If anyone answered though, I didn't hear it.

A small prick hit me in my lower back and I stumbled, falling to my hands and knees.

The last thing I saw was the ground rushing up to meet me.


	3. Chapter Two

**AN:** I updated the prologue for those of you who follow my story. Please go check it out and sorry for any confusion!

* * *

I woke up to an aching nose and someone poking my cheek. I jerked my head away from the offending appendage and cracked my eyes open to glare at the person besides me. A mocha-skinned girl with her long hair in a million braids smiled at me.

"I saw them shoot you." She cheerfully informed me, much too happy with the situation.

I groaned and brought my hands up to gingerly touch my nose. It was tender and I had no doubt I would have panda eyes for the next week or so, but I didn't think it was broken. So, there was something. I had a slight headache as well, but if it was from my face meeting the ground or from the tranquilizer gun, I didn't know.

I glanced around, taking in my surroundings for the first time.

My frowned.

There were a bunch of kids strapped into harnesses. Some were strapped in standing up, while others were strapped in sitting, like myself. We were on a dropship, that much was clear. But the question then became: where the hell were they taking us?

"What's going on?" I turned my head to glance at the girl who had been poking me, showing I was asking her.

She shrugged. "Apparently, they're sending us to the ground."

I faltered. Her words not wanting to compute in my mind. It had been 97 years since the nuclear apocalypse forced people to flee to space and it was predicted that we would need another 100 years before it was inhabitable again.

"What- But-" My words skipped over one another as I tried to figure out what to say first.

"You're guess is as good as mine." She said, shrugging again. "My guard told me that 'this is our second chance at life' and 'we should be grateful' and all that drama." She rolled her eyes, fingers making air quotes around the guard's words.

And I would have said something on that except my eyes zeroed in on the silver bracelet on her wrist. Glancing down at my own hand I saw the same silver bracelet. I twisted my arm around, looking for a clasp. When I couldn't find one I yanked on it and dug my fingers beneath it, trying to disengage the locking mechanism.

A hand landed on my own. I glanced over only to see her shake her head. Her voice was solemn, "I wouldn't if I were you. Who knows what might happen if you take it off."

I made a face but wearily agreed. Clearly, I wasn't the only one the council had managed to screw over.

She smiled suddenly, voice perky. "I'm Zoe Davis, by the way." She thrust out her hand for me to shake.

I blinked and stared for a moment, caught off guards by her emotional whiplash.

"Gabriella O'Riley. But I go by Gale." I shook her offered hand.

"Gale." She hummed thoughtfully, releasing my hand. "Alright, I give up. How'd you get a nickname like Gale from Gabriella?"

A crocked smile and soulful brown eyes flashed across my memory.

I swallowed. "A friend of mine from gave it to me when we were children. He said I was like a hurricane, leaving chaos and destruction in my wake. Thus, the name Gale was born."

I couldn't help but smile, warming up to the memory. "I think he thought he was being cleaver since Gabriella and gale both start with G. We were five at the time. I've been called Gale for so long I can't imagine ever going back."

"Now, that is adorable." Zoe laughed. "I wish my friends had given me a cool nickname like that. All I got was Zozo."

Aw, well-" I shrugged, embarrassed. It had been a long time since I had to explain my nickname. It sounded kind of silly now that I was older.

"Zozo's a cute nickname." I offered hesitantly. It _was_ a cute nickname. But it clearly sounded like she wasn't a fan of it. Cute or not.

Just then there was a small lurch, giving everyone a hard jerk. There were no windows on the dropship so I could only guess that we had detached from the Ark.

"I guess here we go?" Zoe attempted a smile, but I could see the nervousness in her eyes. I'm sure I reflected it right back at her.

Then the dropship lurched again, harder. A few kids screamed as the lights flickered on and off. It leveled off a bit, still trembling beneath us, but otherwise, evened out. That's when the previously blank screens turned on to show us all our _favorite_ Chancellor, Thelonious Jaha. Note the immense sarcasm. He started talking and clearly, Zoe's guard had been coached on what to say because his opening line was basically the same thing Zoe informed me.

Someone yelled out "Your dads a dick, Wells!" to the laughter of the others and when I looked, I realized that the Chancellor's son was indeed here. I frowned; surprised that royalty wasn't immune to punishment. It didn't make me think for one moment that the people in charge weren't horrible monsters, only that Wells must have done something extremely public to have gotten himself lumped in with us expendables.

And suddenly, there was some moronic kid out of his seat "spacewalking". A few people cheered, including a brown-haired girl to my right. I turned to her with a frown.

She blew a raspberry when she saw my face. "Don't be such a mother hen!" She encouraged loudly. "He's just having a bit of fun!"

"What's he going to do when we hit earth's gravity and the parachutes deploy?" I asked, before answering myself. "Get tossed around, if not killed." She rolled her eyes at me and turned away. A boy across from us started unbuckling and scolded him. He was young and thankfully obeyed my command but a boy three seats down didn't. When I yelled at him he flipped me the bird.

Jaha was still talking, going on about how they programmed us to be dropped off at someplace called Mount Weather were there was enough supplies to last us years. But he kept flickering in and out every time we hit a bump.

That's when the worst happened; I clearly felt the parachutes deploy because we stalled in the air for a moment, but something must have gone wrong. We were in freefall. The spacewalker and his followers were sent flying. The one that flipped me off slammed into and then through some pipes. Smoke filled the ship. People were screaming, myself included.

The brunette to my right suddenly had my hand in a vice grip, but I didn't blame her. I gripped her hand right on back and I reached out and grabbed Zoe's as well. Sure, we were taking comfort from virtual strangers but in that moment, it didn't matter. We were all going to die.

The lights flickered and then went off.

Suddenly, the ship gave a mighty lurch and I heard the thrusters under the dropship kick on. We leveled out shaking a bit more. The lights flickered back to life. There was a heavy thud of impact and then the sound of an engine powering off.

"Is it over?" Zoe's eyes were clenched shut.

"I think so?" I answered, after a beat to make certain.

Then, I was laughing. The brunette to my right joined in a second later. Zoe stared at us like we were crazy, and maybe we were but we were _alive_. We were entitled to a bit of crazy after that freefall.

"Holy shit," The brunette yelled between laughs, "We actually made it!"

As our laughter died down, I realized our hands were still entangled in their death grip. I smirked at her and she giggled a bit.

"Nothing like an imminent demise to bring people together, right?" I asked.

She nodded and detangled out fingers. "I'm Octavia." She held out her hand for a proper handshake.

"Gale." I announced gripping her hand firmly, and then pointed behind me. "That's Zoe." Zoe and she introduced themselves and then the seat-belts unfastened and we were scrambling out of our seats, desperate to be free.

Someone yelled that the outer doors were on the lower level and then it was like a mad rush to get to the ladder first. I hung back and gripped both Zoe's and Octavia's wrists when they made to follow the main dash.

Octavia scowled at me and tried to jerk her arm away but I hung on. "Just give them a second." I soothed. "You don't want to have made it down to the ground only to die when someone accidentally shoves you off the ladder and you break you neck."

She didn't respond but her scowl lessened. I released both of their arms. It only took a minute before the flow significantly lessened and then Octavia and I began descending two of the three free ladders.

Halfway down Octavia recognized the man about to open the drop ships door. I eyed his guard's uniform suspiciously and listened as a few people whispered about her being the girl that lived under the floor.

I had no idea what they were talking about. Why would someone live under a floor? What did she do that was so bad that she had to hide?

And then I realized that yeah, being a second child would definitely be something you need to hide under the floor for when she informed the blonde with a braid that she hadn't seen her brother in a year.

I finished my descent of the ladder as Zoe started to come down. We tried to push our way to the front to stand near Octavia, but at that point no one was having it and they shoved us right on back.

Then the door was opening and everyone was silent. No one moved. An explosion of green greeted my eyes and I couldn't contain my gasp.

Octavia walked forward, her brother motioned everyone back, but it was an empty gesture; no one moved. Maybe we were waiting for the radiation to kill her (like it wouldn't get us if we didn't leave the dropship), or maybe it was just one of those moments where time seems to freeze, where awe and fear mix into a heady concoction with Octavia as the key to unlock us.

"WE'RE BACK BITCHES!" She screamed, throwing her arms up into the air in victory.

Suddenly we were all rushing forward, pushing in our haste to plant our feet on the _ground_. I lost Zoe in the scramble and I didn't even think to care. I hit the edge of the door and jumped on the ground. I felt it give beneath my feet, but it wasn't enough; I stumbled far enough away from the door and flung myself on the ground, ripping at my boots.

I paused, puzzled.

Boots? I had left my boots in my cell back in the Sky Box. Who in the world would have been kind enough to put boots back on me?

Curious, I yanked off the first one and turned it around to look at the lip. Sure enough, my initials were right there.

Something clicked inside my head.

 _Of course_ , they had gone and grabbed my shoes from my cell when they saw mine were missing. I couldn't have been the only kid not wearing any. It was the middle of the night, for petes sake. They were trying to see if the ground was livable. It wouldn't do for us to step on something poisonous and die, messing up their data.

I tossed the boot beside me and worked the other one off as well. Whatever. Like hell I was going to let them ruin this moment for me.

Shucking my socks, I pressed my bare feet into the foliage. It was cold and a little bit wet. _Dew_ , my mind supplied from all those Earth Classes we had been forced to take. I dug deeper with my toes, curling and stretching them out until I reached the soil. It was damp, but loosely packed and my toes disappeared into it easily. I laughed, ecstatic, and flung myself backwards. Spread eagle I stared up at the blue, blue sky thinking about how much Sebastian would have loved it down here.

* * *

And that's where Zoe found me some time later. Her face was flushed and her almond eyes bright.

"I've been looking all over for you!" She cried. "Put your shoes on, I want you to meet my friends."

I brushed off my feet and put my socks and shoes back on. Zoe offered her hand and I took it. She hauled me to my feet and I attempted to brush myself off but my clothes were damp and the loose leaves stayed stuck to my back. I didn't pay any mind to it though, much too happy with my new found freedom.

"Who are your friends?" I asked as we walked.

"Monty and Jasper; we grew up together on Argo Station. They're awesome; you're gonna love them."

I wasn't sure why Zoe was willing to continue associating with me especially knowing she had people here with her. Not that I wanted her to stop, but we had literally met just a couple hours ago. Maybe it was our near-death experience or maybe it was just a part of her personality. I wouldn't know yet, after all.

We walked around the drop ship with Zoe talking my ear off about her boys.

"-and he was all like, 'no Dad, I have no idea what happened to the coffee machine' all the while he was black from his chest up from the explosion. I swear, I knew exactly what happened, I was there after all, and I was still this close-" here she put her thumb and pointer finger a millimeter apart, "-to actually believing him."

I gave a small laugh because it was expected, but it seemed more like a, you had to be there, story more than anything. I might have found if funny if I had known the guy, but I grew up on the other side of the Ark on Hydra Station, better known as Hydro Station.

"Oh!" She grasped me by the wrist and began pulling me like I wasn't already following her, "There they are. Come on!"

We reached two boys; the presumed Jasper and Monty. Both were taller than me, but pretty much everyone is taller than me, at five foot nothing, even most children surpass me. One was clearly of Asian descent with his black hair brushed forward like that one popular band used to do in the past and the other was white with messy brown hair and goggles attached to his forehead.

"Jasper, Monty, this is my friend Gale I was telling you about. Gale, this is Jasper and Monty."

She thrust her hand first at the white boy and then at the Asian boy. Even as hellos were exchanged I couldn't help but wonder just what all she had told them about me; that I nearly broke her hand during our freefall because I was holding it so tight? That after said free fall I proceeded to cackle with some random girl I didn't even know?

My cheeks heated but I did my best to ignore them.

"I don't recognize you from the Sky Box." Monty said with a puzzled smile.

I smiled politely, not wanting to have to explain anything, but then both Zoe and Jasper seemed to like that train of thought and proceeded to expand on Monty's comment. I couldn't help but think he was a genius. I saw the suspicion in his eyes. And he clearly knew his friends would take up the questioning, leaving him to sit back and analyze my responses.

"Yeah, that's true!" Zoe butted in, nothing but warmth in her eyes. "Even though I didn't talk to everyone, I've been in there long enough to recognize everybody."

"Did you just get sentenced?" Jasper asked not even a heartbeat after Zoe finished talking.

I could lie, I thought, but then, I didn't want to start out my new life with lies, there had been enough of that back on the Ark.

"No." I finally answered after a bit too long of a pause. "I've been in solitaire for the last year and a half, just waiting for my birthday." I told them trying to give a wry grin, but I think mostly came out as a grimace.

Silence met my confession. And I could tell they were all re-evaluating me. I swallowed at Zoe's weary look. It hurt, more than it should have. She was the first interaction I had had with anyone in a very long time and I found myself wanting her to like me. Maybe I should have lied.

"What'd you do?" Jasper finally took the initiative and asked.

"I attacked a guard and put him in the infirmary. At least, that's what it says on my record." I kept my eyes down. I didn't want to see the disbelief on their faces.

"What did you really do then?" Monty asked.

My eyes shot up to look at him, surprised. I studied him for a moment. He seemed genuine. "Nothing." I finally answered quietly, "Nothing at all."

Before anyone could ask another question, both Monty and Jasper were gripped on their shoulders and spun around by the spacewalker to face the blond-haired girl from before.

"Four of us." The spacewalker said, clearly answering something going on in his own conversation with Wells and the blond girl. She looked familiar, now that I was up close, but I couldn't place her.

I glanced at Wells sitting there on the ground with a broken leg. I wasn't sure how I felt. A few days ago, I would have thought it served him right simply for what he stood for, but now…

Now I was just tired.

"Four of us, what Finn?" Zoe asked the spacewalker, whose name was apparently Finn, stepping forward. She didn't sound too pleased that her boys were being offered up for something without their consent. I followed a few steps behind her.

Wells was the one who answered. "We need to get to Mount Weather where all the supplies are."

I frowned at him but turned to Finn. "I thought we were on Mount Weather?"

Wells was again the one who answered, either not getting the hint that I didn't want to talk to him, or just choosing to ignore it. "We were knocked off course when the parachutes didn't deploy properly and entering the atmosphere fried our communication system."

I didn't much care about the second bit, but of course we were knocked off course. Of course, we couldn't have landed where we needed to be. It could never be easy.

"Count me in," I told Finn and the blond girl.

"Me too." Zoe chimed.

"The six of us then." Finn raised an eyebrow at the blond. "Can we go now?"

Octavia came skipping up. "Sounds like a party. Count me in."

Suddenly, the guard, Octavia's brother, who had been lurking nearby grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

She shook him off, "Going for a walk." Her tone clearly implied duh.

"Hey!" the blond girl cut in, eyes focused on Finn. "Were you trying to take this off?" She grabbed Finn's silver bracelet, examining it.

He shrugged and smirked. "Yeah, so?"

"So," Her scowl deepened. "This wristband transmits your vital signs to the Ark. Take it off and they'll think your dead."

"Should I care?" he asked, tone clearly implying he didn't.

"Well, I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead?" She sassed. "Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? because they won't if they think we're dying."

That clearly had an effect on him and the others listening. He shook his head and backed down. I glanced down at my bracelet in interest.

"Okay," She said. "Now, let's go."

And that was our queue. Without further ado, we were off.


	4. Chapter Three

**AN:** I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has followed and favorited my story. It makes me extremely happy and makes me want to work on my story even more. So, thank you!

On that note, maybe I can get some feedback this chapter? *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* I'm curious what everyone's thoughts are so far?

Also, I decided to start doing something new for each beginning or ending of the chapter depending on where I think it fits best. They're flashbacks into Gale's life without being actual flashbacks, if that makes sense? She's not actually remembering them. I think it brings more depth into the story to see her past and better help you connect with people who are gone.

Without further ado, here it is!

* * *

I curled my fingers against Sebastian's own, larger ones. My head rested on his bare chest. I listened as his heart gave a slow, steady, _ba-dump, ba-dump_.

His other hand painted random pictures against my bare shoulder where it rested.

Leave it to Sebastian to _still_ have energy after being up more than 24 hours and post-coitis.

"What are you thinking?" his voice rumbled from deep in his chest, reverberating in my ear pressed against him.

"Nothing." I replied with relaxed smile, even though he couldn't see it.

His fingers stilled and he shifted under me, pulling at me until I turned to look at him.

One dark bushy eyebrow rose, highlighting his sea green eyes against his russet skin. "You? Thinking nothing? I don't believe it."

I smiled and pushed myself up slightly so I could rub our noses together in an Eskimo kiss like we used to do when we were little.

He smiled dopily at me and shifted me so I was laying more on him than the bed beneath us.

"But really, what are you thinking."

"I'm thinking…" I trialed off and pressed one fingertip against my chin, looking up thoughtfully in a teasing manner.

He tickled me in retaliation. I yelped and tried to wiggle away, but he had me thoroughly trapped.

"I give, I give!" I gasped out between laughter. He paused to stare at me suspiciously.

"I'm thinking-" I lowered my head until my lips were near his ear and whispered. "-that I never want this to end."

* * *

The forest was beautiful. The amount of _green_ that surrounded us was staggering. Flowers sprouted from everywhere ranging in a million different colors and moss grew up the sides of trees. I hazarded a guess that we had landed somewhere that saw lots of rainfall.

My head swiveled, taking in ever little sound. The trees that rustled with each gust of wind, the sound our feet made each step we took. It was much different than the metallic thud of shoes on mental and the humming of engines I was used to.

Zoe walked in front of me, catching up with her friends. It was… nice being around other people again. A bit louder than I was used to, but nice none the least.

Finn had taken to calling the blond Princess. I thought it strange, until Zoe informed me of her actual name. Clarke Griffin.

She was Abigail Griffin's daughter. That had been why I recognized her. Her mother had attempted to keep her out of politics more so than Jaha did with his son, which was why I hadn't recognized her right away.

Abigail Griffin. I think I hated her more than I did anyone else in the entire world. She was a monster. One that didn't deserve the title doctor, in my opinion.

But her daughter seemed different. They called her a traitor.

Zoe said she had tried to do something, but the details of that something were classified so all anyone could do was speculate. Whatever it was though, Zoe had said, it had to have been bad because she got tossed in solitary six months ago.

 _Maybe she found out what they did to my father and Sebastian?_

I shoved that thought away ruthlessly. I was a no one who didn't even live on the same station as her. There was no way what happened to me and the ones I loved would have even been a blip on her radar. No, whatever she did, it had nothing to do with me. The world didn't revolve around me, after all.

Zoe fell back to walk alongside me. I noticed both Monty and Jasper attempting to subtly glance back at us and was immediately on guard.

"Ignore them." Zoe told me, as if reading my thoughts. I glanced at her sharply. She rolled her eyes with an exasperated smile. "They don't mean any harm. They're just curious about you is all."

"Why?" I asked after a beat of silence.

"Because you tried to escape, when they were rounding us up."

I stared at her. I hadn't been trying to escape. But, I guess it could be taken that way from an outside perspective.

"You were so cool. And when all those guards gathered at the bottom of the stairs, I thought for sure they would catch you then, but nope. You just flung yourself over the railing like it was no big deal."

Her eyes sparkled as she relayed that moment back to me. It sounded so romantic, when she said it that way, but all I could think was how terrified I had been in that moment. It felt like a lifetime past rather than just a few measly hours ago.

"I bet you would have gotten away too if you hadn't needed to stop and ask for directions." She sighed dreamily. "That would have been even cooler. And, oh man! The way your face just-" She smacked her hands together loudly, drawing all eyes to us, "-on the metal. Ouch."

I flushed at everyone's look. Jasper and Monty apparently took that as their cue to join our conversation because they slowed down enough until we were all walking together.

"Man, I wish I could of seen it." Jasper told me, crooked grin flashing. "I was already on the dropship when it all went down."

"Where were you trying to go? It's not like you could have gotten away and hid forever." Octavia said deciding to jump into our conversation. And why not? The more the merrier at this point. "I should know more than anyone after all."

I shook my head at her. "I wasn't trying to escape." I told the group at large because both Clarke and Finn had fallen silent as well, listening. "I mean, yeah, I thought they were going to kill us, but I wasn't trying to get away. I was trying to warn peoples families."

"Wait! You thought they were going to kills us?" Zoe gasped eyebrows raised high in disbelief.

I faltered. "What else was I supposed to think was happening when they came for us in the middle of the night?" I snapped back a bit harsher than intended.

Octavia nodded thoughtfully, like she agreed with my hypothesis but Zoe shrugged, while Jasper and Monty stepped closer to her until I felt like it was a battle with me on one side and them on the other.

"I don't know, but murder seems a bit extreme." Zoe answered, not even seeming to notice the boy's closer proximity.

And maybe I had been wrong when I thought Zoe had been screwed over by the council before, because this was an attitude that screamed blind trust.

"Well," I said testily, backing down because I didn't want to get in a fight nor explain what they did to my family. "that's just what I though."

I stared ahead, body tense.

I heard Zoe puff out a big breath of air and then she was by my side, her arm curling around my dangling one until it was like some sort of parody of a gentleman and lady walking. Only I wasn't contributing in any way.

"I'm sorry." She murmured. "I didn't mean to upset you. I was just surprised is all."

I shook my head. "It's fine."

"No, it's not. I hurt your feelings."

"You didn't hurt my feelings. I just- A lot has happened and sometimes it's hard to remember that majority of people still trust the people in charge."

She squeezed my arm in reassurance.

Her mouth opened, but whatever she was about to say she clearly thought better of it because she closed it a second later.

I was grateful. I had a feeling she wanted to ask why I didn't trust them and I really didn't feel like getting into all the terrible details.

We walked for some time, Zoe babbling on about what ever caught her attention. She had long since dropped my arm to better tell her stories with exaggerated hand movements.

I smiled as I watched her only half listening. She reminded me of Sebastian; like there was too much energy in her body to be contained and so it was constantly leaking out, whether it be in hand movements or bursts of speed.

I couldn't help but snort with suppressed laughter when Zoe started talking for Jasper who was desperately flirting with Octavia.

"Ah, yes Octavia, look me, I'm so-o-o handsome- Ah!" She mimicked in a hysterically deep voice when he tripped and tried to play it off. "Hahaha, even the ground wants a piece of me."

She snickered. "Gotta love Jasper. Too bad our friend only has eyes for smooth-talking Finn."

"Well, it has only been a few hours. Jasper seems like the type of person who rubs off on you real quick." I mussed.

Oh, he is." She grinned. Her grin turned into a smirk and she wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively. "Speaking from experience? Do you think my boy Jasper is someone you'd want to rub off with?" She winked.

I blanched. "No! I mean, no. He's- He's not my type."

"What is your type? Do you have a special someone back home?" Her eyebrows wiggled like crazy.

Again, Sebastian floated through my mind. Not that that was anything new though. He was never far from my thoughts. This time my mind brought up the last time I ever saw him. My memories were hazy since I was so sick, but I remembered him yelling. I remembered his face as it suddenly hovered over me. His big, warm hand on my check, thumb caressing it. He'd looked so intense, like he was trying to memorize my face.

"Hey," I blinked as Zoe's voice snapped me out of my memory. She looked perplexed, "Where'd you go? You got all frowny all of a sudden."

"Ah," I gave a head shake, trying to shake off the memory. "Sometimes I get lost in my thoughts. I had a lot of um _,_ alone time in my cell, so…" I trialed off with a one-sided shoulder shrug.

She hummed thoughtfully, but again dropped the conversation. I couldn't help but start to think that Zoe was a lot more observant than she let on. She could tell she was making me uncomfortable so she backed off.

Up ahead the others had stopped and were crouching down, looking at something.

I exchanged a look with Zoe and we picked up the speed to see what was going on. When we were almost there Monty turned and motioned for us to be quiet. We lightened our steps and crouched slightly as we walked up. At that point, we could see what had caught everyone's attention.

It was a deer. A full on, living animal. We hadn't seen anything up to that point. Not a bird or the rustling of a bush as a small animal hid. Nothing. I had begun to think that there was nothing still alive other than us.

But standing right there was living proof that the ground was, well, livable.

I smiled in awe and let myself soak in the revelation. We weren't on a death mission. There was a chance we could survive even if Mount Weather turned out to be a bust.

Finn step-crouched forward, trying to get closer only his foot snapped a branch underfoot.

I gasped just as loudly as everyone else when the deer turned towards the sound.

All my hopes crashed.

The deer had two faces; one clearly unusable.

The radiation might not have been affecting us but it was clearly affecting the wildlife.

We were screwed if we didn't get to Mount Weather.

* * *

We had been hiking for close to two hours now. The sun was hanging low in the western sky, signifying dusk. Although, going by my internal clock, I would be finishing breakfast right about now. I patted my belly and sent it a mental, _soon_ , as if that would keep it from grumbling.

"Hey, you know what I'd like to know?" Finn asked out of the blue as we hiked single file down a bit of a hill. "Why send us down today after 97 years? What changed?"

Octavia scoffed, "Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now," She grabbed one of the million tall but thin trees surrounding us to spin around it, "I'm spinning in a forest."

Finn passed her, ignoring her once again, obvious attempt at flirting.

Monty picked up were Finn left off because clearly this had been on his mind as well. It had been on mine too, if I was honest. "Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know, like an old weather satellite or-"

Clarke cut him off. "It wasn't a satellite. The ark is dying."

Everyone froze to turn and look at her. She continued walking like she hadn't just dropped a huge bomb on us.

"At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone."

We all started following her when it became clear she wasn't going to stop and let us absorb everything.

Finn caught up to her, "So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?"

"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought people had a right to know. The council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were going to go public, anyway, when Wells-"

She cut herself off.

Finn frowned, "What, turned in your dad?"

Clarke continued, pretending he hadn't said anything. "Anyway, the guard showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves some more time.

Monty jumped in, desolate. "They're going to kill more people, aren't they." While it sounded like a question, it most certainly wasn't posed as one. He sounded like he knew that that was exactly what they were going to do and I didn't doubt it for a second.

Octavia jumped in, "Good. After what they did to me, I say Float them all."

Jasper gasped, "You don't mean that."

Something niggled at the back of my mind as Jasper chased after Octavia. I picked at the thought, hoping it would unravel.

I jolted out of my thoughts when I heard screaming.

Shit! I had gotten so lost in my thoughts that I had lost focus of my surroundings while everyone continued walking.

I bolted towards the sound of the screams. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten much further ahead of me.

I burst out of the trees and out onto a cropping of rocks, taking in the situation.

Octavia and Jasper were hauling themselves out of the water, just barely missing getting grabbed by some kind of giant river monster whose shadow I could just see skimming the surface of the water.

I picked my way down the rocks to join everyone as Clarke tended to the nasty bite on Octavia's leg. Zoe had gripped Jasper in a bear hug and seemed to be in the middle of both berating him for jumping in with the monster and congratulating him on saving Octavia.

I hesitated on the outskirts of the group, uncertain on what to do or how to even stand. I felt out of place. Like I shouldn't be here right now. It seemed like they were all bonding and I was just there… existing; taking up space.

I glanced around myself. We needed a fire so the two of them could get dry since night was almost upon us. But I had no idea how to make one. I had the general idea, sure, but no real knowledge.

"Hey, you alright?" Finn asked me.

I blinked at him for a moment, surprised to see him standing next to me. I hadn't heard him move.

"We should make a fire before night falls. Dry them off. Only, I don't know how to make one."

He nodded, "You're right. I think I do though." He turned to the rest of the group. "Guys, let's get started on a fire. We need to warm you two up. Monty, Gale, you're with me."

"What about me?" Jasper asked.

"Ah, you get the best job of all." Finn smirked. "You get to stay there and look pretty."

"My kinda job." Jasper grinned.

We picked through the woods looking for what Finn sent us to find. Eventually we had a nice little fire going with Octavia and Jasper sitting closest to it.

Everyone broke off into little groups, just talking.

I stood up, brushing my butt off.

"Where are you going?" Jasper asked.

"Just over that way." I motioned with my head towards the river.

"Well, don't go falling in. I already did my rescuing for the year. I won't be able to do it again." He teased. Zoe smacked his arm which sent them into a back and forth verbal spar.

I smiled lightly and wondered off to the river. I found a relatively flat place to sit on the rocks, near the edge, but not too near. I really did not want what happened to Octavia to happen to me.

Alone and knowing we weren't going anywhere until the sun rose, I closed my eyes and allowed my mind to wonder to what had been bugging me since Clarke's big reveal.

Something didn't add up in my mind. I felt like there was a piece missing but I didn't push. I let my mind wonder from thought to thought, flowing whichever way it wanted.

My eyes snapped open.

Gerald Kingston. He was what didn't make since. I had thought the council had protected him because he was a member of the upper-class, but now. Now more pieces of the puzzle were slotting into place.

He was the best damn Life Support technician on the Ark. I remembered even my day talking about him years ago when he first took his job. Everyone had had high expectation for him. They said he was going to revolutionize the way the Ark produced clean oxygen.

But if Clarke's dad was the one to find the flaw in Life Support then why did the council protect him? It wasn't found until a year after the fact.

Because they knew about it already. Obviously. Gerald must have been their only hope of somehow fixing the problem and so when he raped that woman…

They felt they had no choice but to protect him by framing someone else. That someone else had just happened to be my dad.

The revelation felt… empty.

It didn't bring my dad back. It didn't bring Sebastian back or erase anything else that happened.

My dad always used to say knowledge was power. And while knowledge couldn't chance the past, it could change the future.

I sat and stewed and plotted.

* * *

 **AN:** Uh, So, I noticed something when I was re-watching the first episode and it was Clarke's father who discovered the flaw in life support. Opps.

So, in my version, he wasn't the _first_ to find it, just the first to want to let the public know. Only a select few people had known up to that point and had been trying to fix it. Clarke's father obviously didn't know and that's why he thought he was the first to find it. The people that knew weren't successful in fixing it and that's when he found it. He found it about a year after Gale was imprisoned. So, all the drama that happened to Clarke and her family happened about six months before the start of our story.


End file.
